Overview

The Microsoft Exchange Server 2003 MSIT Intermediate Configuration Pack is designed to be used for managing the configuration of Exchange 2003 servers. This configuration pack defines recommended configurations based on a substantial number of settings affecting the configuration of Exchange 2003 servers in the Microsoft IT environment. A partial list of the included configuration items and settings can be obtained by downloading the Microsoft Exchange Server 2003 MSIT Basic Configuration Pack; more extensive configuration items and settings can be obtained by downloading the Microsoft Exchange Server 2003 MSIT Comprehensive Configuration Pack. It is recommended that users begin by evaluating their configuration against the Basic configuration pack, and then progress to the Intermediate and Comprehensive configuration packs as desired configurations are verified.

Once imported into SCCM 2007, this configuration pack and its included configuration items can be targeted to collections of systems which are then audited for compliance with the recommended configurations. When settings are detected to be out of compliance, events will be generated and sent to the Configuration Manager server where the data is available for reporting. This enables early detection of potentially detrimental configuration changes and allows the administrator to correct the settings before they may cause downtime events.

Please note that the configuration items, settings, and values used by Microsoft IT and included in this configuration pack will not necessarily reflect the desired configuration for every possible Exchange Server 2003 environment. The administrator should verify that the rules being evaluated reflect the desired configuration for their specific environment. If desired, the administrator can also modify the configuration pack by changing the value(s) specified for given settings-based configuration items or by adding/removing configuration items from the model through the Desired Configuration Management user interface within the SCCM 2007 console. Where settings and values are represented by a Parent and Child configuration item pair, the Child configuration item will contain the editable rules and values that an administrator may choose to modify.

In some cases, the settings and values will be represented by a Parent and Child configuration item pair. Please note that the Child configuration item will contain the editable rules and values that an administrator may choose to modify to reflect the desired configuration for their specific environment.

To understand in detail what each configuration item will be evaluating please review the properties of that configuration item in the context of the server role being addressed.